Happy Nurses Week?

Happy Nurses Week to all my fellow nurses out there! This is the week to celebrate our growth, accomplishments and the impact we have made on the health of the entire nation.

One thing that has bugged me about his week is how nurses have been kind of lost in the shuffle of the whole thing and it is now about the organization and not necessarily about the nurses. At my hospital and several others I have worked at, it has now become National Hospital Week celebrations, with nursing as an afterthought. Typical right?

All the celebration for the contribution of nursing has been extended to everybody else in the organization. The Physical Therapists get the same recognition this week as the nurses do…..and then on Physical Therapist day they get it again.

I know we didn’t become nurses for the recognition; we did it for the perks like cleaning up stool, the smell of a necrotic wound and being put down my physicians. But it would be nice if just that one week or even day a year that everybody else could step back and say thank you for all you do, and recognize that the hospital could not function if it were not for us.

I for one will recognize everything you all do and say thank you. Thank you to the nurses that took care of my father when he had a heart attack, the oncology nurses that saved my mothers life when she had breast cancer. Thank you to the NICU nurses that took care of my daughter for those four terrible and magical days. Thank you to all the nurses that taught me what it really means to be a nurse by their positive, and negative, behaviors. Thank you to all the nurses that work their tails off for our unit each and every day. And, thank you to all of you for what you do for our patients. I am humbled to be a part of the nursing profession.

Rob Cameron is currently a staff nurse in a level II trauma center. He has primarily been an ED nurse for most of his career, but he has also been a nurse manager for Surgical Trauma and Telemetry unit. He has worked in Med/Surg, Critical Care, Hospice, Rehab, an extremely busy cardiology clinic and pretty much anywhere he's been needed.
Prior to his career in nursing, Rob worked in healthcare finance and management. Rob feels this experience has given him a perspective on nursing that many never see. He loves nursing because of all the options he has within the field. He is currently a grad student working on an MSN in nursing leadership, and teaches clinicals at a local university.
Away from work, Rob spends all of his time with his wife and daughter. He enjoys cycling and Crossfit. He is a die hard NASCAR fan. Sundays you can find Rob watching the race with his daughter.
By Rob Cameron

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8 Responses to Happy Nurses Week?

Chapman

The sad truth about nursing can be see in any patients bill. There are specific charges for radiology, lab, respiratory therapy but no charge for the nursing care they receive. Despite the fact that we give the vast majority of care our services are not billed for. We are literally a part of the room rent, just like the linens and the toilet paper. This is how management sees us and this is how they treat us.

We are the only holistic specialty and give the majority of care but we are not important enough to even rate our own line on the bill. Why should our patients, or the physicians respect us if our own bosses see us as a part of the room rent?

Nurses week was a bid disappointment at our facility, (a small rural area) our hard work reward was an printed flyer on copy paper stating Happy Nurses Week, and that was all. Nothing else. How appreciative can we be?

what nurse week means to mean: i found a card that my sister wrote to me a few weeks before she passed away at a young age but never got to mail it. every year since i take that card out. being a nurse able me to care for in her last days.